Just a quick blog to show that while I am passionate about the wines from the South of France, I do drink other things.

Over the weekend, I decided to open something a bit different to accompany a sausage and lentil casserole. So rather than spending half an hour bent over double in the cupboard looking for something, I randomly picked a bottle from my cellar list. The random bit came from the last digits of the pages in the books we were reading. This took me to a page in the cellar book, and a row entry, after discarding the first selection (a Mosel Auslese) this technique picked a bottle of Aussie Shiraz, it was D'Arrenberg Footbolt Shiraz 1995. This beaut from the Barossa still had impressive fruit, as well as a lovely broad streak of leather, game and some interesting spice on the length. The tannins (never big to begin with) were lovely and soft, though still perfectly formed; the balance was also good, with sufficient acidity (and tannin) for it to work well with the sausages and lentils.

I recomment the technique to thise of you with big cellars, or for those who are wracked with indecision when they try to pick a bottle from the rack. Now I really must find something interesting to eat while we drink that Riesling.

Ian